nowhere to lock bikes at train station

[mrcharly-YHT]

I need to recover my fitness gradually, and thought I'd start by cycling to knaresborough station and catching train from there.

So I contacted Northern Railways to check about cycle parking at the station.

The customer services dept looked it up and phoned the station manager.

It is not possible to lock up bikes at Knaresborough station. No bike racks, and you aren't allowed to just lock them on the platform.

Seems that it is just out of the West York PTE, so no-one pushes the provision of facilities.

What a Pathetic pile of poo.

[Pete]

We had a similar, though not quite the same, situation at our local station, where, although there were bike racks, they were unusable (rusting to bits, badly vandalised, buried in rubbish, rat infested, and smelling of urine).

After a lot of badgering via the Town Council, "something was done about it" and the old racks were replaced with a purpose built modern cycle shelter.  Well and good.

Unfortunately this has now become a thieves' paradise (well the previous facility would have been one too, only that no sentient cyclist would have used it).  Consider: your potential thief only has to watch for the owner to park their bike, then board a train: then he knows that the owner will be unable to return to the bike until the next return train at the soonest, giving him plenty of time...

Do others have similar problems at stations with bike parking?  It probably depends on where they are placed.

If you do manage to persuade the powers that be to put in bike stands - good luck - and bear this in mind...

[rogerzilla]

The general rules for leaving a bike at a station seem to be:

- Get a very cheap secondhand bike in the worst possible colour
- Form no emotional attachment to it whatsoever
- Lock it properly, but bear in mind the price of a new lock when it gets busted, so don't go overboard
- Budget for the occasional taxi home, and regular bike replacements.

[Pete]

The general rules for leaving a bike at a station seem to be:

- Get a very cheap secondhand bike in the worst possible colour
- Form no emotional attachment to it whatsoever
- Lock it properly, but bear in mind the price of a new lock when it gets busted, so don't go overboard
- Budget for the occasional taxi home, and regular bike replacements.

That's exactly what a colleague of mine did.  He used to commute in by train, doing the last mile or two from the station to the workplace by bike which he left locked at the station overnight.

It lasted about two weeks or so, then it was nicked.

He now comes in by car...

[Dave]

Buy a folder?

(By the way, are there any bike racks at all in the new St Pancras development?)

[mrcharly-YHT]

Bah - no folder will stand up to the journey, even if I could afford one. I was only going to ride to Knaresborough for a few weeks, before resuming the full trip to leeds again.

Even Knaresborough is a 30mile roundtrip.

[peterh]

(By the way, are there any bike racks at all in the new St Pancras development?)

I seem to remember a big fuss about this when the station was relaunched last year.  Only a small number of spaces and the racks weren't actually anchored to anything.

National Rail say that there are 30 spaces at the domestic terminal, but none at the international version.  There are 332 spaces across the road at Kings Cross!

[duncan]

Bah - no folder will stand up to the journey, even if I could afford one. I was only going to ride to Knaresborough for a few weeks, before resuming the full trip to leeds again.

Even Knaresborough is a 30mile roundtrip.

That's a really good Brompton riding distance. Agreed they are expensive...

[clarion]

Perhaps there is no bike parking facility because they let bikes on all the trains?

No?

Oh.

[Gattopardo]

Have a chat to your local authorities cycling officer.